The “uncomfortable” X-rated scene John Goodman didn’t want to shoot: “I’m not going to do it”
Even though they’re paid to recite the lines written in the script, actors often put their foot down and refuse to shoot certain scenes. When John Goodman read a particular sequence, he knew then and there that he didn’t want to do it. He told everyone as much, but he ended up doing it anyway.
It takes a lot for someone like Goodman, who’s never had an issue playing the fool onscreen, to say that there are certain lines he won’t cross. He’s killed people, been killed, lounged around in nothing but a towel, embarked on foul-mouthed tirades, and much more throughout his career, so what was the big deal?
Sex, naturally. He might have lost a remarkable amount of weight to be slimmer than he’s been in decades, but that still didn’t leave the Primetime Emmy and Golden Globe winner confident enough in his abilities as a man in his 70s to get down to some seriously X-rated business in a TV series with the potential to be beamed into millions of homes worldwide.
Having been a main cast member since the beginning, Goodman would have known that The Righteous Gemstones, the raucous evangelical comedy created by and starring Danny McBride, had few off-limits subjects. A skewering satire, blackly hilarious dysfunctional family drama, and occasional gross-out caper, the star’s Elijah Gemstone II was regularly up to no good.
However, when he discovered the fourth and final season required him to be caught by his family while mid-69 with Megan Mullally’s Lori Milsap, he drew the line. “There was one particular scene that I said, ‘I can’t do this,'” he admitted to The Hollywood Reporter. “It involved the soxiante-neuf position with my girlfriend. I said, ‘I’m not going to do this.'”
Once it was explained in detail, though, he eventually came around, which might not be the best choice of words. “They set the sexual position up in a way that it was just funny,” he said, obviously relieved. “I was only uncomfortable for an hour or so, and I’m no good naked.” Goodman says it was only an hour, but McBride has a slightly different version of the story.
Understandably, he “would have never imagined when I was a kid that I would be an adult trying to talk John Gooman into 69ing someone on camera like that, something in my life I never imagined happening.” That’s just as well, because if those were the kind of things going on in his head, serious questions would need to be asked.
McBride remembers hearing rumours that when the cast and crew arrived on location to start shooting the fourth season, Goodman marched into the production office and began protesting by bellowing, “No on Proposition 69, no on Proposition 69!” Still, he did it like the consummate professional he is.
Nobody would have had ‘John Goodman 69ing on TV’ on their bingo cards at the beginning of 2025, but it happened. He didn’t want to do it, but he did, even if he’ll never want to do anything like it again.
